Game Description:Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds arrives after a decade of waiting, as the iconic Marvel and Capcom characters join forces again in a re-envisioned team fighting game for a new generation. Fill the shoes of legendary characters from the most beloved franchises in entertainment as you battle in a living comic book brought to life in a VS. fighting game for the first time by Capcom’s MT Framework. Get set for the ultimate faceoff with Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Review

Capcom continues its assault on the fighting game genre with Marvel vs. Capcom 3, a new entry in its "Versus" franchise from the producer of the fantastic Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Is it time to break out that arcade stick again?

The Pros

Fantastic, Rewarding Fighting Engine

Great cast of characters

Training and Mission modes are excellent

The Cons

Where's the story they promised?

Can't spectate fights online. At all.

Online multiplayer enjoyment subject to lag

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Review:

While it has been 11-years since the original release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Producer Ryota Niitsuma is no stranger to Capcom’s “Versus” series, having just led the team that released Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for the Japanese arcades and the Wii. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has some big shoes to fill. It has to live up to MvC2’s tournament legacy and rabid fan-base, while also finding a broader audience in the rejuvenated fighting game genre.

Capcom, after going through a bit of licensing hell and years of fan requests for a sequel, was finally able to get development started with a renewed partnership with Marvel. While MvC2 featured a cast of 56 playable characters, many of them were severely underpowered and tournament play eventually evolved into constant bouts between Magneto, Storm, Sentinel, and a bit of Cable thrown in for good measure. MvC3 trims the roster to 36 characters (with two more announced as DLC), but just about every character seems to be a viable option. There’s also a lot more variety between characters and each plays just a little bit differently from similar choices. Characters that seem like gimmick choices, Arthur or M.O.D.O.K. for example, can be great fun to throw into the mix.

Are You Ready to be Taken for a Ride?

The first thing you’ll notice when you start playing MvC3 is that the fighting engine is ridiculously fun. The control system has been simplified since MvC2 and it’s easy to pull off some amazing looking combos, especially compared to SF4. You’ll get light, medium, and heavy attacks along with a “Special” attack that will serve mostly as your launcher, which will initiate air combos. There’s a ton of depth to be found underneath the controls, however, with a lot of strategy and choice. The limiting factor to your combos will usually be your creativity, with only the most complex moves requiring exact timing. Where Super Street Fighter IV requires tricky one-frame links, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 thrives on character and meter management.

As with MvC2, you’ll be fielding a team of three characters, each with one of three assist moves. This leads to a lot of potential match-ups and strategy in choosing characters. Some assists are incredibly powerful in the right situation, but do you want to choose a character based on their assist? With a little practice, you’ll be executing Delayed Hyper Combos, Crossover Assists, Team Aerial Combos, and Crossover Counters. None of these are particularly difficult to do, but all come with their own risk versus reward metagame.

The newest mechanic, X-Factor, is where Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sets itself apart from MvC2 in the biggest way. Each player will get one X-Factor during a fight, which can be used to cancel out of your current move, allowing you to link otherwise unlinkable moves, or just fire off two Hyper Combos without a gap. It also, however, gives your active character a significant boost in power, speed, and negates any chip damage for its duration. The strength and duration of this boost is dependent on how many characters you have left. Sure, you can use it while you have all three fighters standing, but wait until you’re down to one character and a comeback against three enemy characters is quite possible. Just remember, your opponent has one too.

Capcom and Marvel brought on Frank Tieri to handle the story and dialogue for the game, but sadly, the story isn’t really anywhere to be found in the actual game. Now, story isn’t high on my list of priorities for a fighting game so I’m not going to condemn the game for this, but it would have been nice to see something resembling a narrative attempted. You’ve got a bucket of great characters from both companies and the only story you’ll get in-game are four dialogue-free cutscenes depicting a battle between heroes from Capcom and Marvel until a more sinister threat appears. To actually find out what was going on, I was forced to turn to a brief comic book included only in the Special Edition version of the game. Beyond that, character endings are quick and feature two drawings and some non-spoken dialogue. It’s a missed opportunity, but doesn’t really hurt the game unless you were expecting an involved, engrossing story.

The dialogue, however, is fantastic and extremely referential. Characters will refer to each other and crack wise before, during, and after battle. These quips are good for a laugh and add a lot of personality to the characters. It really helps add weight to the fact that these characters exist in the same world. This is where the true strength of the writing shines and definitely sets the standard for fighting game dialogue.

But What Will Be in Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3

As for modes, you’ll get the requisite Arcade Mode, which ends with a big boss fight and unlocks each characters ending. The character that lands the last hit is the ending you’ll see, which is a bit annoying. It would have been nice to see the endings for all three of your chosen characters, but this should only really annoy those people that want to finish the game with all characters on the hardest difficulty. Versus is your mode for player-versus-player on the same console. To play against the AI outside of the Arcade Mode, you’ll need to utilize the game’s Training Mode. Thankfully, the Training Mode is phenomenal. You’ll get a ton of options for customizing the various meters, AI level, recording and playback of moves, and even a lag simulator.

Mission Mode is your one-stop shop for learning each character. Each character gets 10 missions, echoing Street Fighter IV’s trial mode, which range from simple special moves to complex combos that mix and match several gameplay mechanics. Some get rather challenging, but I never felt like any one mission was completely impossible for me.

Playing any mode in the game will earn you Player Points (PP), which is how you’ll unlock the game’s four locked characters. These four will be yours after only a few hours of gameplay. You’ll also earn gallery unlocks, achievements/trophies, and more through PP. Beyond that, there are tons of icons and titles to earn.

Endless Stream of Ryu, Wolverine, and Dante. Also, Deadpool.

Online is currently limited to Ranked Matches, Player Matches, and Lobby Mode. Ranked bouts will add to your overall rank and are one off fights between two random players. Player Matches are the same except they don’t bestow rank, but do offer easy options for quick rematches. Lobby Mode lets you create a room for up to 8 players to keep matches rolling. It’s a winner-stays situation, but unfortunately, this mode is crippled by not supporting ANY spectating. If you aren’t fighting, you get to look at the lobby screen and some life bars of the two players that are battling. I’m told that this is something Capcom would like to patch in, but there are no guarantees.

The netcode is comparable to Super Street Fighter IV. In short, you’ll probably experience a little bit of lag in almost every match, but it’s certainly playable. Like all fighting games, any amount of lag is going to diminish the experience when compared to playing against a local opponent. If you utilize the matchmaking feature, you’ll get plenty of low-lag games, but be warned if you’re going to attempt to play against friends that live far away or have questionable Internet quality.

Much Like a Comic Book Character, It’s a Hero With a Few Flaws

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is an incredibly fun game and should be in any fighting fan’s collection. While it isn’t the most mode-heavy fighter on the block, it’s one of the most enjoyable to actually play. I’ve already had play sessions where me and a buddy have rematched with no character changes twenty times in a row, trading wins back and forth. It’s extremely rewarding to play and keep playing. I’ve put in over 20 hours of gameplay into MvC3 and I’m already thinking about it when I’m not playing.

Capcom is already adding one new mode and at least two DLC characters so hopefully we’ll see additional modes and tweaks after launch. Sure, there are a few issues and the story is a missed opportunity, but there’s nothing that stands out as any reason not to go and get this game right now.

How, I ask? I didn't expect a great story, but there isn't one here. The combat is not challenging either. It's repetitive and doesn't focus on combos. This is seriously an insult to fans of the genre. It focuses too much on flashy effects and not enough on the skill of the player. It does nothing new or exciting. This is the perfect example of a 3/5 game. What happened to you x-play? I used to be able to agree with your reviews. Just get rid of the rating system if you aren't going to take it seriously.

One of the best games in the fighting genre thats been seriously lacking.There were a few things that did really bother me:-Character unlocking was a serious joke-Beating the game was a serious joke....I took care of the 2 final characters and Galacticus with just one character.-SHE HULK!!???? TASKMASTER!!!???? What the hell were they thinking? Now im going to have to PAY to have the characters downloaded I wanted to see originally. Like, Megaman, Stryder, Cable, Gambit, Venom, etc.Overall its very much worth the money (I laugh at the people who think its a good idea to buy Bulletstorm)...on the condition that you know plenty of people who've loved these games and will want to play as much as you do (online multiplayer can be kind of laggy)

pretty spot on review the only thing i disagree with is that training mode and mission mode are pretty bare bone in my eyes. Its nice that they added a lag mode in training to test it out but i don't think you will put it to much use unless you know you have a crappy connection. Training mode could have benefited more with it showing you the ropes of easy combos for each character and running down how to do team combos, snap back, and cancels.

Mission mode is cool and in some respects shows you how to play the game, but the problem is you kinda have to know how to play the game first to get anywhere in mission mode. Also they don't flat out tell you what buttons you need to be pressing to preform said action. To add on that you will run into times when you feel like you are doing it right but your not. So it would have been nice to add a how it's done or what it looks like video or cpu action.

Well it shore don't look like it did in the trailer , but we all knew it wouldn't anyway .On the PRO side I like that way it looks and fast pace and the new charters .On the BAD side - I hate the button set up . soft ,med , hard , I like the punch / kick set up better .I hate the combos as well , It's ok if your a girl and your getting the Combo Nutz or your in to that but me . I don't like it .WHAT I mean is once the combo starts it can't be stooped or blocked , you might as well just go get something to eat till it's over , but all the v.s games have this .What makes me the maddest is it's MISSING over 20 Charters from the last MVC 2 . Most likely they keep them out for the next game ect . I see them milking this for a long time just like the DRAGON BALL games . Only adding a little at a time each year then taking some things out , you know just like madden . In steed of just haven the BEST fighting game ever and making it better every year they make it half aszed .I was looking forward to using VENOM , SABBERTOOTH ,KEN,GUILE ,ect but all you get to unlock is 4 charters . - 2 of witch should NOT be in the game . 1 that should have been unlocked . and the last one is new . I LIKE THE GAME BUT FILL RIPPED OFF !!!

I don't want to say that G4 is selling out (again) but a 5 out of 5? Even with Sessler's "It's totally arbitrary" scoring system, that's ridiculous. The game is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but so much is missing out of it that it kinda seems funky. The "training mode" is pretty much fighting against a dummy. Yeah, there is a lot you can change about it, but if you want to have a normal fight against AI it should be in Versus mode. The "Missions" are actually "Training", so it's completely pointless to have that mode as well. I remember back in the PS2 / Xbox days a Mortal Kombat came out with a story mode, normal Versus mode, Arcade mode, and Mortal Kombat Chess. The actual fighting of MvC3 is, of course, much better. I was just expecting a lot more from this game.

G4 is kind of the place I go to get joke reviews now. I have no faith in them anymore

It baffles as to how this game got a 5/5. The cons outweighed the pros 10 times over, and the review constantly talked about the flaws. Surely every game has flaws but this game wasn't even a full game! All of the modes were unsatisfying and the character list was poor. Sorry X-Play, but I disagree. A 5/5 should be reserved for good games.

is this game awesome? yes. does it deserve a 5/5? no. the real replay value of a game like this comes from playing online, and MvC3 fails as an online experience. with ranked matches it's tough to get matched up with another player, and with lobby matches you have to wait in a lobby and twiddle your thumbs until 4 or 5 people fight in front of you so that you get a single opportunity to beat whoever may be the hot hand at the moment. i feel they should have a tournament style of gameplay for lobby matches. losers play against losers, winners play winners. then when it's over shuffle everyone and start again, this would keep the action going, or in the very least allow me to watch the only match that is taking place. i just don't get it. as it stands i beat the game with every character and the online turns me off, so after about 3 days of fun i'm done with this game. 3/5

How, I ask? I didn't expect a great story, but there isn't one. The combat is not challenging either. It's repetitive and doesn't focus on combos. This is seriously an insult to the community. I don't know how this got a 5 out of 5. I wouldn't recommend anything more than a rental of this game to anyone. The people who actually enjoy fighting games are going to go back to MvC2 and SF4.

Found it to be way over simplified, which i'll admit kind of seemed great for the first few rounds. But then as you play further the realization of 'what's the point of playing?' hits you when you've played right to the end without once needing to learn a damn thing, that is not what games are supposed to be like!

I'm not even big of arcade fighters, but I expect more of a challenge out of them than this. This was just too mainstream feeling for me to even enjoy. Far too little is expected from the player to fully qualify this as a real video game, for both hardcore fans of the genre or just true gamers in general.

It ended up feeling like one of those 1 button 1 note games designed for kids 5 years old and younger, I would be appauled if were a diehard MvC fan and i've been waiting this long for what was actually delivered.

Looks like this will be another game going to a new generation of gamers, the ones who want everything for nothing, and don't have the attention span to actually learn something in order to play propperly.

For some reason the industry has been swaying their way for years now, acrossed all gaming genres too, and I can't say I approve.